[Food] Tosokchon Samgyetang (Chicken Ginseng Soup)

Samgyetang literally translates as “ginseng chicken soup” in English. It is traditionally served in the summer for its supposed nutrients, which replaces those lost through excessive sweating and physical exertion during the hot summers in Korea. To make samgyetang, a whole young chicken is stuffed with glutinous rice and boiled in a broth of Korean ginseng, dried seeded jujube fruits, garlic, and ginger.

Finally got around to trying this famous Samgyetang restaurant near Gyeongbokgung! This happened midway during exam week and i had just collected my visa, so I joined the rest later. I was supposed to be on time bu i got intercepted halfway by an ahjumma who asked me endless questions about my life for like absolutely no reason so by the time i reached the food was already there hahahhahah. Anyway let’s go into the details!

Tosokchon restaurant from the outside!

Tosokchon restaurant interior~

The restaurant was huge! Got lost trying to find them ._.

Samgyetang and Tongdak

Lineatte Karin and Jasmine ordered one portion of Tongdak (roasted chicken) and two portions of Samgyetang (chicken ginseng soup). Irrelevant but the kimchi at this place was really really delicious! Jasmine really wanted to buy some back~

Samgyetang!!

The soup had a mild ginseng taste so if you’re looking for a strong soup, i don’t think this would be the place for you! The chicken was stuffed with glorious glutinous rice so there was no need to order our own bowls of rice. The two small glasses you see in that picture above is actually wine and supposedly to put into the ginseng chicken soup to add flavor to it. Haha. The rest have eaten there before and never knew it, they even drank the wine one shot lullllz.

Samgyetang – 15,000 won
Tongdak – 14,000 won
Other menu details – blogger’s post 

How to get to Tosokchon: From Gyeongbokgung Station (Seoul Subway Line 3) Exit 2, go straight for about 170m. GS25 is the landmark to look out for – when you see GS25, turn left into the small streets.

The week with the parents

Places visited: Gyeongbokgung Palace, Yeouido, Dongdaemun, 63 Building, Garosugil (Gangnam).

The parents finally came over last weekend! So basically i spent all the free time of that week with them, whenever possible staying in their hotel too and crashing on the sofa. Haha. It was kinda tough planning for parents’ itinerary, gotta be sensitive to what they want and also sometimes they’re tired and stuff so things will change a lot.

The night I returned from the field trip, i joined them immediately and we planned to go Gyeongbokgung palace the next day!

 

Like honestly it was a bit obligatory for myself and my mom just wanted to take nice photos with the nice buildings LOL. So we ended up at the palace ahaha.

엄마랑

부모닙께서

I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS IS? LIKE VERY CANDID PHOTO BY MY DAD LOL BUT IT’S CUTE SO I POSTED IT im shameless

So yeah that’s kinda it actually. Nothing that much in the palace, nothing that amazing or anything. I did like the stories behind the buildings and stuff since we went on a free english guided tour, but still, eventually my parents got bored too.

On Tuesday, I brought them to Yeouido to see spring blossoms because i heard they were dying. Disappointing though, a lot of them were really dying :<

After that we cabbed down to Dongdaemun because my parents really wanted to see. Dongaemun was lame though… haha i feel bad saying it but idk there’s reallyyyyyyy nothing there. We only saw dept stores and they were all quite pricey. I heard Dongdaemun market only becomes cheaper after midnight? I don’t know if anyone knows what’s really so interesting about Dongdaemun do enlighten. Lol.

I was contemplating whether or not to skip my Korean class but my mom refused to let me do so she said she would wanna come over to my campus instead to check it out and take photos.

On Wednesday, we had dinner with Amber! Invited her over because she’s such a nice unnir haha.

We ate BBQ and walked around Myeongdong for a bit.

On Thursday my parents shifted hotels to D Cube Sheraton and omg i really liked this hotel!! The bathroom was so pretty and had a view of the entire city haha. Lazy to post photos now but anyways yeah it was a great place. My dad traveled a lot in the past for business trips so he accumulated hotel points that he saves up for trips like these~ We headed over to the 63 Building in the late afternoon after moving and honestly i have to say i was also quite dispapointed. There isn’t anything that impressive about 63 buildin… 😡 we didn’t go the aquarium and all that and just chose to go to the Sky Art gallery.

Hazy view from the top.

Okay well i’d never return to the 63 building unless obligation hahaha. I expected so much more i guess I should lower some expectations a bit haha.

We chilled around at the top and decided to head to Gangnam instead because my parents wanted to check it out! I’ve been to Gangnam but the Apgujeong side of it, this time we all went to Garosugil which is a famous trendy street in Gangnam district. There was nothing amazingly great about it but I did notice people were really well dressed and everyone just looks damn good! We tried to find a cafe i saw online but couldn’t find it, so we just walked the streets and finally found a nice restaurant selling Beef Galbi soup!! ❤ Hungry just talking about it man. I would actually wanna go back to visit Garosugil given the chance, but in the daytime. Just to explore the shops and cafes!

really love my hair under bright light cuz it looks so orange-y! This was the last shot before they flew back to Singapore! Been a super busy week going back and forth from dorm to their hotels haha, but it’s worth it!! ❤ so nice to feel like home once again.